OR.     Jr7?B4 


Duke  University  Libraries 

(t-ommunication 
Conf  Pam  #414 


\  ncOw^  fir:  f- 


MESSAGE  OF  THE  PRESIDENT. 

Richmond,  Va.,  Dec,  16,  1863. 

To  the  House  of  Representatives  : 

In  response  to  your  resolution  of  the  1 0th  instant,  I  herewith 
transmit,  for  your  information,  a  communication  from  the  Secretary 
of  War  relative  to  the  exempti(Ui  of  mail  contractors  "  under  the  Act 
of  April  14,  1863,"  and  to  the  action  of  the  Department  upon  the 
subject. 

JEFFERSON  DAVIS. 


Digitized  by  the  Internet  Archive 
in  2010  with  funding  from 
Duke  University  Libraries 


http://www.archive.org/details/communicationfro28conf 


COMMUNICATION  FROM  SECRETARY  OF  WAR. 


Confederate  States  of  America,  ^ 

War  Department.       \ 

Richmond,  Va.,  Dec.^14;  lt63.  ) 

To  the  President  of  the  Confederate  Statea :  ' 

TiR :  The  resolution  of  the  House  of  Representatives  of  the  Con- 
gress of  the  Confederate  Sta'e?,  inquiring  whether  contractors  for 
carrying  the  mails  of  the  Confederate  States  exempt  from  the  per- 
formance of  military  duty  in  the  armies  of  the  Confederate  Stato.'* 
under  the  act  of  April  14,  18G3,  have  been  retained  in  the  army  and 
held  subject  to  the  performance  of  military  duty  since  the  passage  of 
said  act,  and  if  so,  upon  what  ground  the  same  is  done,  has  been 
referred  by  you  to  this  Department  for  reply. 

,  In  reply  1  have  to  say,  that  the  consciiption  act  of  April  16,  18^2, 
is  the  foundation  of  the  legislation  ot  Congress  on  the  subject  of 
providing  for  the  further  defence  of  the  Confederate  States.  Jt  de- 
clares as  its  cause  or  moliv'e,  '■^  the  exigencies  if  the  cuxin  ry,  and  the 
ABSOLUTE  necessity  o^  keeping  i^  the  strvice  our  G.ALEA^T  armv,  and  of 
placing  in  the  field  a  huge  adiitional  force  to  jieet  the  advancing 
columns  of  the  enemy  novf  invading  t.ursoil''^  It  enacted  "that  all 
persons  between  the'ages  of  eighteen  and  thirty-five  who  are  now  in 
the  armies  of  the  Confederacy,  whose  term  of  service  will  expire  be- 
fore the  end  of  the  war,  ehall  be  cnntinwA  in  the  service  for  three 
years  from  the  date  of  their  original  eidistment,  unless  the  war  shall 
have  sooner  ended."  It  furtlier  enacted  *' that  the  President  might 
call  out  and  place  in  the  service  for  three  y<-ars,  unless  the  war  bhoU 
have  sooner  ended,  all  persons  between  the  ages  of  eighteen  and 
thirty-five  years  at  the  tiuao  the  call  or  calls  may  be  made,  who  are 
not  legally  exempted  from  military  eervice."  The  only  pers('ns  vho 
were  exempted  from  military  sorvice  were  those  designated  in  the  aco 
of  Congress  of  the  21st  of  April,  1 802,  and  comprised  such  persons 
as  are  usually  exempt  from  militia  duty,  with  a  few  additions. 

The  "  exigencies  of  the  service,"  and  '-the  necessity  for  keeping 
our  gallant  army  in  the  field,"  and  for  the  addition  of  reinforcements, 
were  greatly  increased  by  the  events  of  the  campaign  in  the  spring, 
summer,  and  early  part  of  the  autumn  of  1862. 

The  battles  before  and  around  Richmond,  on  the  Potomac,  and  in 
Maryland,  had  diminished  the  strength  of  the  artny  of  Virginia; 
New  Orleans  and  Memphis  had  caf)itulated ;  western  Tennessee, 
northern  Mississippi,  and  northern  Alabama  were  possessed  by  the 


enemy,  an*!  the  United  Stales  ha<l  called  for  an  increase  to  their  army 
mort*  than  half  a  million  of  mon,  and  the  preliminary  proclamation 
of  a  pfneral  emancipation  of  the  slave  population  of  the  Confederacy 
by  tl»e  IVe-idcnt  of  the  United  Stntes  had  heen  made,  at  the  time  when 
the  Coiiffdi-rntc  Congress  were  re«jiiircd  to  make  farther  provision  for 
th«'  '  e.     On  the  27th  Soptemher,  I8G2.   under  the  <lictate 

of  I  ..   the   l're}«idcnt   was  authorized  hy  Congretis  to  call 

out  and  place  in  the  nulitary  service  persons  between  thirty-five  and 
forty-five  years  of  ape,  who  at  the  date  of  his  call  were  not  legally 
exempted  from  military  service;  and  the  President,  "durinc;  the  present 
tcvir,"  was  then  vested  wuh  tlu*  same  authority  "as  to  all  persons  who 
then  were  or  who  might  attain  the  age  «>f  eighteen  years;"  and  "when 
enrolled  all  jMr,ons  hetween  the  a;;efl  of  eiglitpon  and  forty  five  were 
requir<Ml  to  hcrAe  their  full  term;'*  and  (  ongress  fiuther piovidf^rl  that 
nothing  contained  in  their  enactment  **  shall  he  under:Uood  as  r  •peal- 
ing or  uiodifving  any  part  of  the  act  of  the  Kith  April.  1SG2  ''  The 
act  of  the  l.'.ilt  nct«»l»er,  I.SG2,  v>!is  passed  to  designate  the  persons 
who  wt!  'xcmpted  from  military  service  tinder  the  presidential 

calls.      J  :s  have  heen  construed  by  this   Department  as   parts 

of  the  eamo  system,  and  with  tlio  oV»ject  to  give  full  effect  to  every 
portion,  according  to  the  intention  of  Congress.  It  is  clear  that  this 
oxemption  act  was  not  intended  to  discharge  from  any  part  of  tho 
array  tho  nieiubcrs  beK)n;jing  to  it  at  its  date.  That  portion  of  the 
army  which  had  enlisted  for  the  war  remained  in  the  service  under 
their  contract,  to  answer  the  exigencies  cf  tho  service,  and  that  whoso 
terra  of  service  was  about  to  expire  w.is  continual  in  the  service  by  the 
coni«cription  act  of  April,  1802,  umler  an  inexorable  "  absolute  ne- 
cessity.*' It  is  also  clear  that  it  did  not  apply  to  such  as  had  been 
legally  enrolleil  for  service,  "for  they  Avere  rc(juircd  by  tho  conscrip- 
tion act  of  ^September,  I8G2,  to  servo  their  full  term."  The  persons 
who  were  to  bo  exempted  were  those  who  at  the»date  of  the  call,  or 
who  were  claimed  for  enrollment,  wero  not  in  the  army,  and  who  be- 
longe<l  to  the  class  of  exempts  as  designated  by  the  act  of  exouiption. 
This  construction  was  adoptetl  by  the  Department,  after  mnturo  con- 
sideration of  the  various  enactments,  and  has  been  applied  in  its 
ordinary  administration,  and  in  the  opinion  of  the  Department  this 
coni-iructiou  is  demanded  by  their  language  and  the  motives  which 
induced  Congress  to  adopt  them  to  provide  for  tho  puldic  defence. 

The  actof  Congress  of  .\pril  II,  I8G3,  relative  to  mail  contractors, 
is  an  exemption  act.  The  title  of  the  act  is  similar  to  that  of  Octo- 
ber 13,  I8G2.  the  one  being  "an  act  to  exempt  certain  persons  from 
military  duty ;"  tho  other  being  "  an  act  to  exempt  contractors  for 
carrying  the  mails  of  the  Confederate  States,  and  the  drivers  of  post 
coaclijs  and  hacks,  from  military  service."  This  Dcpariment  has  not 
i^«ipi<osed  thai  the  act  last  meiitionetl  was  designed  to  draw  any  portion 
of  the  gallant  army  from  the  field,  in  tho  face  ol  tiie  declaration  that 
ti  ero  was  "an  absolute  necessity  for  its  continued  employment  to 
resl^t  the  invader,"  in  order  to  carry  the  mail  on  routes  of  ton  miles 
in  length,  on  horse,  or  to  firive  post  coaches  or  hacks. 

The  act  of  April  14,  before  mentioned,  has  been  regarded  as  form- 


ing  a  part  of  the  act  of  October  relative  to  exemptions,  and  to  be 
applied  to  all  sucli  persons  as  were  not  enlisted  or  enrolled  in  the  mili- 
tary service  previously  to  its  adoption.  The  Bureau  of  Conscription, 
under  instructions  from  the  Department,  has  determined  •' that  the 
cause  of  excnif^ion  should  exist  at  the  time  that  military  service  is 
claimed.  If  a  person  otiiorwise  subject  to  consciiption  before  or  at 
the  time  of  enrollment,  claims  exemption  by  reason  of  being  such  a 
mail  contractor  as  is  mentioned  in  the  act,  exemf)tion  must  not  bo 
refused,  even  though  th<'>  cor.tract  was  obtained  since  the  p:issage  of 
the  act.  If  the  contract  is  obtained  subsequent  to  the  enrollment,  the 
party  virtually  bee-  mes  a  member  of  the  army,  and  a  release  from 
service  is  of  the  nature  of  a  discharge  from  the  army,  which  is  not 
contemplated  in  the  act  of  Congress." 

It  is  proper  to  state  that  one  or  more  of  the  judges  of  the  district 
courts  of  the  Confederate  States,  and  one  or  more  of  the  judges  of 
state  circuit  courts,  have  decided  that  the  acts  of  excn-'ption  of  Oc- 
tober and  April  authorized  discharges  from  the  army  ;  and  under  the 
act  of  April,  one  of  these  Judges  gi  anted  ilischarges  to  three  members 
of  the  same  company  who  had  taken  mail  contracts  for  one  mill,  one 
cent,  and  ten  cents,  respectively.  The  advertisements  of  the  Post 
Office  Department  have  represented  the  exemption  from  military  ser- 
vice (including  a  discharge  from  the  army,  if  enlisted.)  as  a  part  of 
the  benefit  to  be  obtained  by  a  contract  for  carrying  the  mail.  The 
result  has  been  that  a  competition  among  officers  and  men  has,  to 
some  extent,  been  produced,  to  obtain  such  contracts,  at  nominal 
prices,  by  which  they  might  abandon  the  flag  of  the  Confederacy  in 
the  hour  of  its  extreme  peril,  to  carry  the  mail  in  obscure  districts 
and  upon  unimportant  routes. 

Such  consecjuences  seem  to  be  too  serious  to  permit  the  Department 
to  hesitate  in  the  performance  of  its  duty. 

It  could  not  regard  the  opinion  of  one  or  of  more  of  the  judges  of 
these  inferior  tribunals  as  final  and  authoritative  expositions  of  the 
statute. 

These  statutes  are  especially  of  an  administrative  character,  and  are 
particularly  addressed  to  ihe  Executive  Department  for  its  guidance. 
The  Department  has  constantly  to  determine  upon  the  signification  of 
the  terms,  and  to  ascertain  the  intention  of  Congress.  Its  opinion  on 
the  act  of  October  was  fully  known,  and  has  been  generally  acquiesced 
in,  and  particularly  so  by  Congress  itself. 

While,  therefore,  the  Department  respects  the  decisions  of  the  courts 
as  final  in  the  case  before  it,  it  does  not  look  to  the  opinions  of  the 
judges  of  the  inferior  courts  as  furnishing  the  rule  of  interpretation 
they  must  bear  in  the  action  of  the  Department, 

The  Department  has  not  int^^rfered  with  any  of  the  soldiers  who 
have  been  fairly  discharged  by  judicial  authority  under  the  construe 
tion  that  the  act  is  applicable  to  the  aimy,  and  has  not  discharged 
any  other  soldier  from  the  army  who  may  have  obtained  mail  contracts, 
in  deference  to  the  judicial  opinion  contained  in  such  judgments.  The 
Department  is  confirmed  in  the  accuracy  of  its  opinion,  by  consider- 
ing the  terms  of  the  only  act  of  Congress  which  has  authorized  it  to 


give  diBchnrges  from  the  anny.  This  act  i"  entitled  •*  An  Act  to 
authorize  tlje  discharge  of  certain  civil  ofhcers  from  the  military  ser- 
vice of  the  Confcderat'*  States,"  passed  2d  Ap:il,  ..SG3.  It  provides 
that  if  any  officer  or  soiilier  hJiall  he  elected  or  appointed  to  certain 
offices  name<l,  upon  furnishiii^r  the  Secretary  of  War  jkiih  evidence  of 
such  election  or  appointment,  if  an  officer,  his  resignation  shall  be 
accepted,  and  if  a  non-coinmipsioned  officer  or  private  ho  shall  be 
honorably  discharged  by  the  Secretary  of  War.  The  lilstinction  made 
between  acts  of  exetn|)tion  aiid  acts  for  the  discharge  of  officers  and 
soldiers  from  the  army,  is  pl.iinly  inunitested  by  loujparing  the  statutes 
before  referred  to,  and  seems  to  have  been  fully  appreciated  by  Con- 
gress. 

Reppcctfullv  submitted. 

JAMES  A.  SEDDON. 

Secretary  of  If'cr. 


pH  8.5 


